Illegal Immigration Should Be "A Serious Crime"
It is in Mexico, where you are jailed as a felon for illegal immigration. But, here in the USA, there's whining that people are deported...boohoo...merely for the crime of being here illegally. Lee Romney and Paloma Esquivel write in the Los Angeles Times about "noncriminals" swept up in a federal deportation program. Um, noncriminals in the sense that they didn't murder and chop up anyone with an ax. Criminals in the sense that they're here ILLEGALLY!
More than once, Norma recalls, she yearned to dial 911 when her partner hit her. But the undocumented mother of a U.S.-born toddler was too fearful of police and too broken of spirit to do so.In October, she finally worked up the courage to call police -- and paid a steep price.
Officers who responded found her sobbing, with a swollen lower lip. But a red mark on her alleged abuser's cheek prompted police to book them both into the San Francisco County Jail while investigators sorted out the details.
With that, Norma was swept into the wide net of Secure Communities, a federal program launched in 2008 with the stated goal of identifying and deporting more illegal immigrants "convicted of serious crimes."
But Norma was never convicted of a crime. She was not charged in the abuse case, though the jail honored a request to turn her over to immigration authorities for possible deportation.
"I had called the police to help me," said Norma, 31, who asked that her last name not be used because she fears that speaking out may jeopardize her case. "I think it's unjust.... Even with a traffic ticket we can now be deported."
Under the program, fingerprints of all inmates booked into local jails and cross-checked with the FBI's criminal database are now forwarded by that agency to Immigration and Customs Enforcement to be screened for immigration status. Officials said the new system would focus enforcement efforts on violent felons such as those convicted of murder, rape and kidnapping.
How about on anybody who's here illegally? Is that really too much to ask?
I used to work with several immigrants with questionable immigration status. I learned that some can not possibly get here legally because they have extensive criminal records in their home country. I worked with several that had spent eighty percent of their adult lives in Mexican prisons.
Whether or not they have committed a crime here, doesn't mean that they don't have a long list of crimes at home. And without documentation, we have no way of knowing.
Send all illegals home!
Cat at May 2, 2011 7:46 AM
Secure the border and streamline the legal immigration system so that more low wage earners can get in here legally.
Libertarianism is for open borders. Though I'm for the above policies, I am also for the freedom of movement and the freedom of labor that movement implies within reason. In general, government policies should be made with the least infringement of freedom possible.
Andrew Hall at May 2, 2011 9:51 AM
"streamline the legal immigration system so that more low wage earners can get in here legally."
Is there a shortage of low wage earners in the US? Im betting there wouldn't be if we tweaked the welfare system.
momof4 at May 2, 2011 11:35 AM
Securing our borders, making higher punishments for individuals that are here illegally, and punishing those who hire Mexicans under the table are all very necessary steps to prevent the problem from becoming more rampant than it already is. However, these are all band-aids and won't solve the problem of illegal immigrants streaming into the US.
The solution is not to simply make them legal citizens. We have pregnant women hopping the border hoping to make their children American citizens on a technicality. We have illegal immigrants bribing officials to get on our welfare system. We have rampant identity theft from them. And we have companies hiring under the table for cash at lower than minimum wage, while the illegals send the money back to Mexico. These are desperate people and they simply don't care if our system folds under their weight.
The real solution to this is for Mexico to vastly improve the quality-of-life standards for their citizens. Their minimum wage is the equivalent of around $4.50 a day. Their people are desperately impoverished, which is why so many of them are coming here. Zoom in with google maps on basically any city in Mexico (especially Mexico City) and you'll see what I mean. Their country desperately needs a revolution of some sort, and the tide of illegals will not change otherwise. It's not really our responsibility to force change in their country, but maybe we should do it anyway. Especially since our government has no problem with pointless meddling in countries like Libya. :P
Sarah at May 2, 2011 2:03 PM
I suppose I agree with Sarah. While we are spending our government money on helping the entire world, we are not creating any more tax-paying citizens. I suppose I don't see much error in continuing to colonize as long as the end goal is more taxpayers.
Cat at May 2, 2011 3:10 PM
*****Is there a shortage of low wage earners in the US? Im betting there wouldn't be if we tweaked the welfare system.*****
THIS.
Daghain at May 2, 2011 5:00 PM
I work in vocational rehabilitation here in Washington State. A lot of my claimants are migrant workers, many with questionable legal status, who become injured at their (primarily) agricultural jobs. Although the injuries aren't always fully disabling, many inevitably become pensions because we can't prove their employability. Too many barriers, including the inability to speak or comprehend English, 3rd grade education from Mexico, etc.
Meloni at May 2, 2011 6:36 PM
There is a big difference as those foreign visitors who have intention to be illegal just to enrich themselves and those foreign visitors who have no intention to be illegal, if it is illegal to remain so.
Why should higher wage be the main motive for anyone to be an immigrant? That just puzzle me. I always thought lower or higher wage is irrelevant as long as there are certain amount of decency and decent freedom. If they can achieve freedom and independence in their country of origin, there is no reason for them to be an immigrant, unless they want to join a native spouse.
WLIL at May 2, 2011 6:37 PM
And also what about certain eastern influenced western country that make a big mistake of causing potential visitor to be illegal by inconsiderately denying normal entry to some innocent potential visitor due to some flimsy reason?
WLIL at May 2, 2011 6:44 PM
No idea what you're talking about with that last post WLIL, could you please clarify?
NicoleK at May 3, 2011 9:37 AM
I would try to clarify. I was trying to say that certain western country such as UK (that already have too many eastern or islamic immigrants or islamic and nonislamic eastern influences, in its admirable quest to prevent illegal immigration may have targeted a potential innocent foreign visitor who have no intention to be an illegal immigrant.
Anyway, there is a big difference with regard to settlers who originally migrated to build a country and build a better life for everyone and those unscrupulous migrants who are taking away benefits that don't belong to them.
WLIL at May 3, 2011 3:52 PM
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